If my company required me to give them my FB account, I'll make a 2nd one with a new email, and give them that one. I doubt it's listed as "all social media accounts".

I am NOT comfortable with anyone having access to my account- not because I post horrible things, but because of my family and friends that trust me to keep me in on privacy settings. If they wanted my IT department or boss to see all their family pics and rants, they would add them.

Do you think that your company would tell you that the guy downstairs that has access to that info quits? And that maybe you should change your info? I doubt it. And that's a scary thought.

That would make the most sense. I have 3 email addresses myself. I have the one I use for work, a joint one with my wife and me that we use for anything regarding professional or personal matters involving both of us, and then my own personal email for my fantasy football, etc. Those that need it have the right to look at my email at work, so I obviously limit what I do.

And while we're allowed to use the internet for personal reasons, I know I limit my online activity at work to reading news, sports, or doing some trades and investing. I don't post on this site using my work computer, for example.

I have taken the liberty, just in case, of talking to a friend of mine at another company who said if the shit hits the fan he would hire me right away. So, if this does go south, I'll have a safe place to land at least and be able to keep working. I also took a few minutes this morning (even though I have the day off due to the holiday) to talk to the head of our building and explain to him the situation. Turns out the VP is a brown-noser when it comes to people above him. To paraphrase that eloquent philosopher Dewayne Johnson, it's "Lips to asses". I worked with him a long time also, so it sounds like he will have my back.

Bruiser, I'm with you 110% bud. No employer has the right to spy on their employee's and their personal assets(Facebook).

Yeah, they do.

I am not saying it is right or wrong, I am just saying legally they can.

People have been fired before and they will continue to be fired because of Facebook/Twitter dealings. People have taken it to court, and have failed.

She would fail in court. NLRB will only get her so far and this is not one of the circumstances they will cover. In court, it would be open and shut. It being "private" wouldn't even matter unless you could prove he hacked into it (someone could have shown it to him and stooged her post off. No different than someone going to the boss and saying "_____ says you're a ____" and then shit hits the fan. If anything this is more cut/dry because there is a paper trail of sorts because it was a post)

It sucks, but that's the system.

I know the OP won't like hearing this because to him it's kissing ass and whatever, but he's your boss and you probably could have saved her job by suggesting to him an alternative instead of puffing your chest and now BOTH of you could be gone.

Get used to it America/OP. Adjust, because this has been around and will be around. Be careful, don't be a fool, and don't call a higher up a name behind their back and be surprised when there are consequences.

I am not saying it is right or wrong, I am just saying legally they can.

People have been fired before and they will continue to be fired because of Facebook/Twitter dealings. People have taken it to court, and have failed.

She would fail in court. NLRB will only get her so far and this is not one of the circumstances they will cover. In court, it would be open and shut. It being "private" wouldn't even matter unless you could prove he hacked into it (someone could have shown it to him and stooged her post off. No different than someone going to the boss and saying "_____ says you're a ____" and then shit hits the fan. If anything this is more cut/dry because there is a paper trail of sorts because it was a post)

It sucks, but that's the system.

I know the OP won't like hearing this because to him it's kissing ass and whatever, but he's your boss and you probably could have saved her job by suggesting to him an alternative instead of puffing your chest and now BOTH of you could be gone.

Get used to it America/OP. Adjust, because this has been around and will be around. Be careful, don't be a fool, and don't call a higher up a name behind their back and be surprised when there are consequences.

I've always said this and it bears repeating. I understand society has changed, and I do my best to make adjustments. But, when it comes to my rights or anyone else's, those are non-negotiable. I refuse to compromise my principles or forfeit any of my rights. I also go out of my way to make sure no one else's rights are trampled, either. To me, my employees are mine for the 8 hours they work. Afterwards, what they do is their business. She's called me boring on her FB page, I don't want to fire her.

I don't kiss ass, either. I'm respectful of my superiors, without question, but this VP has a habit of hating anytime someone disagrees with them. In the past, he's been very hostile anytime I offer alternatives to what he wants to do. For example, he had a way of wanting to log our call monitors. When I pointed out tweaking it a little bit in order to save time and the company a bit of scratch/coin/$$$, he sulked like my daughter after I tell her to go to her room.

With the original situation, I tried to see if there was a compromise. He wouldn't hear of it, so I put my foot down and said this is a line that will not be crossed. I was willing to work with him, but at the same time I won't be intimidated or pushed.

What happens away from work has nothing to do with work. Unless you are unable to actually come to work. Other than that employers should mind their own business. Unless you are illegally slandering them, or making false claims then those people should have nothing to say.

If you go complaining about coworkers or your job on Facebook and make them look bad, and if you weren't bright enough to put up your privacy settings than yeah, you should expect to get in trouble. I can't just clock out of my job and stand on the sidewalk telling everyone to stay away and expect to not get a talking to at the very least. It's bad for business. Plus I have some coworkers added on facebook so to start slandering off the business would be completely idiotic.

Not that I think you did the wrong thing. But people still represent the business and shouldn't be talking bad about it - at least, in a way your boss would be able to easily see - and expect everything to just be fine and dandy.

If you go complaining about coworkers or your job on Facebook and make them look bad, and if you weren't bright enough to put up your privacy settings than yeah, you should expect to get in trouble. I can't just clock out of my job and stand on the sidewalk telling everyone to stay away and expect to not get a talking to at the very least. It's bad for business. Plus I have some coworkers added on facebook so to start slandering off the business would be completely idiotic.

Not that I think you did the wrong thing. But people still represent the business and shouldn't be talking bad about it - at least, in a way your boss would be able to easily see - and expect everything to just be fine and dandy.

I agree...same should be said for my VP who decided to go all Creepy McCreepalot at the strip club while bragging about what he does and where he works.

Anyway, I have a feeling this shit ain't over. Had my review today, VP wasn't there, just my director. Director was very positive, but he said that the VP wasn't happy with my performance. He is aware of the situation, and we later went in to talk to the head of our department. Apparently, the VP is now talking shit behind my back. What I find funny is with all that happened, the VP was not around for me to talk to him. He has apparently decided not to face me and do this.

I told my boss, "I've been with this company for 12 years. If he has an issue with me, we need to sit down and discuss this. There is no disrespect meant when I don't agree with him, he needs to understand that. At the same time, I will not beg and grovel for my job and I will always do what's best for the company. If he wants to get rid of me for this reason, then he needs to flat out do it. Otherwise, we're going to have to agree to disagree and be done with it."

My department head then said, "He feels there's nothing to discuss. He thinks you don't want to hash things out. I told him otherwise, but now he's going over my head and wants to escalate things further."

We talked for about a half hour, and at the end I left it like this. "I'm sorry if he's angry, but I can't do my job if I have the sword of Damocles hanging over my head. If he wants to fire me, then do it and be done with it. But I am going to do my job, I will work with him if he chooses to do so, but I will not be intimidated by him, either."

With that, I left. I think that things are going to move fairly quickly at this point. I don't want to lose my job, but I won't be afraid. I've made my point to them and now it's up to the higher-ups to decide what happens.

Unlike most folks, I try to avoid putting stuff like this on here, Lord knows there's enough drama on this board with a lot of the people on this board. But, somehow this is rather therapeutic to vent here. I also appreciate the feedback, whether you agree with me or not. And, with all I tell about this guy, I would say the same thing to his face.

I know a guy that nearly got sacked for badmouthing the company on Facebook (he quit anyway out of protest). The bottom line is you wouldn't get away with standing on a street corner badmouthing the people that pay you so don't do it online for anyone to see.

If you work for a big firm, make everything on your profile private and only add people you are actually friends with and not just a mere acquaintance from work who might nark you out for having a good ol' bitch.

It's quite amazing how many people that are higher in the chain of a company are willing to smile to your face, and soon as you turn around, they go behind your back and complain as loud and as hard to your boss, or your bosses boss. And they are almost always taken at their word.

I personally think that people who post work-related things on Facebook, or anything else, when they have co-workers or bosses added as friends - or have a completely public profile - are stupid.

Yeah, free speech and yadda yadda, but you can't seriously expect no consequences if you go trashing somebody or bitching in the open like that.

Now, if this were a case of employers being able to gain access to private accounts to see what's going on, then fine - grab the guns and gun down anybody in uniform.

But so many of these stories all revolve around the inability of some people to simply change their privacy settings. You can even exclude certain people from viewing certain status updates now so there's just no excuse.

If you're going to talk shit online, be prepared to do it in real life or at least expect something to come of it.